The ICYMI Roundup

The ICYMI Roundup: Chronicles of Nairnia

Brandi Ortega·
InternationalNWSL
··9 min read
[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap] roundup of what happened in women’s soccer this past week and what’s happening next week. Results, attendance where available and notes from leagues, teams and competitions.

It’s the roundup you never knew you needed.

Quick Ones

Break Out the Berets?
France has bid for the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Always good news to hear more interest in women’s soccer, but what are France’s chances given Germany hosted in 2011? These generally go in continental cycles.

International

Champions League

Goals went missing in the first legs of semifinal action, as both games ended in 0-0 draws. The return legs are on April 27. Tyresö hosts Birmingham City and title holders Wolfsburg welcome Potsdam.

Results
Potsdam 0-0 Wolfsburg
Birmingham City 0-0 Tyresö

Leagues

FA WSL

League matches resume on May 18 to make way for the FA Women’s Cup and Continental Cup.

Recent Results
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Attendance: 503

Everton 0-2 Notts County
Notts forward Ellen White tore her ACL and will miss the rest of the season.

Manchester City 0-2 Bristol Academy

Frauen-Bundesliga

Recent Results
Duisburg 1-1 Freiburg
Sindelfingen 0-2 Essen
USV Jena 2-0 Cloppenburg

Bayern Munich 1-1 Frankfurt
The draw earned Frankfurt a point and it now sits even with Potsdam on 38 points atop the league table. Wolfsburg, with 34 points, and Bayern, with 31 points, follow. Bayern Munich will be without Sara Romert for the rest of the season and well into the next, as the 19-year-old midfielder suffered an ACL and medial collateral ligament tear and a partial tear of the meniscus in her knee. Also injured for the club are Sarah Hagan and Niki Cross, both of whom will return to the United States to play in NWSL once the Bundesliga season ends. Bayern is also without Leonie Maier, Katja Schroffenegger, Laura Feiersinger and Carina Wenninger.

Damallsvenskan

Recent Results
FC Rosengård 1-0 KIF Örebro
Anja Mittag scored the lone goal off an Ali Riley assist.

Eskilstuna United 2-0 Tyresö
In the Spring 2014 issue of Our Game Magazine, Tyresö Head Coach Tony Gustavsson said the team was focused on the Champions League. He wasn’t kidding as he rested six regular starters as the squad dropped its second league game against newly promoted Eskilstuna. The game’s first goal came from Gaelle Enganamouit in the 52nd minute. Gustavsson sent on Christen Press and Vero Boquete in the last 20 minutes to try for the equalizer that never came. Instead, Eskilstuna would score another, leaving Tyresö without a win in the still-young season.

A Pox on the House of Rosengård (h/t @DandalBs)
Forward Ramona Bachmann missed FC Rosegård’s games against Öbrero and maybe Linköping due to chicken pox.

NWSL

Recent Results
Washington Spirit 3-1 FC Kansas City
Chicago Red Stars 1-0 Western New York Flash
Sky Blue FC 1-1 Porthland Thorns
Boston Breakers 2-3 Houston Dash

Week 3 Mid-Week
Seattle Reign 3-1 Washington Spirit

NWSL’s first mid-week game saw a well-rested Seattle dominate a Spirit team coming off a 3-1 win over Kansas City on Saturday. Poor set piece marking — again — led to the Reign’s first goal in the opening minutes. The Spirit will need to regroup quickly as the team heads to Chicago to face a Red Stars team also coming off a week of rest and a 1-0 home opening win.

Chronicles of Nairnia
Eschewing the more colorful footwear options available, Washington Spirit midfielder Christine Nairn sports all-black boots on the field. It makes for a marked contrast on the field but it wasn’t enough to help FC Kansas City’s Nicole Barnhart pick out Nairn’s left-footed bender just before the half.

It’s gotta be the shoes. Well, no, it’s not. While playing for the Reign last season, Nairn led the team in assists and was the bright spot for the Spirit in a Week 1 loss against Western New York Flash and solid again in a Week 2 win against FCKC, doing the work — “stuff” that doesn’t show up in the final box score, such as switching the field, for example — that lets wide players Diana Matheson and Crystal Dunn attack and create.

After being the Spirit’s most consistent (and underrated player) in the team’s first two games, Nairn was largely neutralized against Seattle’s midfield, often forced to focus on defense in a game that saw the Spirit go down early off another set piece marking miscue. The Spirit need to capitalize on her ability to dole out assists if it wants to win games. One who should benefit from Nairn’s presence is Diana Matheson, who was Spirit Sparkplug last season and hasn’t slowed this season. Matheson carried the team for the majority of last year, and in theory, shouldn’t have to bear the onus of creating and scoring with Dunn mirroring her on the other side and Nairn providing defensive support and deep-lying creativity. That theory was proven true against FC Kansas City but not so against Seattle’s scary midfield. A goal inside of two minutes doesn’t help and neither does an ineffective Dunn. It’s too early to tell if Dunn can be consistent week in and week out (yes, still coming off of injury, turf, road trip). But if not, and with national team duty call-ups looming, Nairn’s importance increases. So, it’s more than a little concerning to see her pick up an injury in Seattle.

As Nairn goes, so go the Spirit.

Bits and Pieces
The Portland Thorns opened up a team store at Providence Park. Go get Thorny. The NWSL Championship Trophy will be on display prior to the team’s home opener. Go take a selfie. Use Valencia.
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Chicago Red Stars signed Niki Read, former University of Illinois forward.
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Seattle Reign continue to produce high-quality social media, with the latest video featuring two of my favorite cartoon characters. Check out INSIDE REIGN: Syd + Pinoe:

Also, The Homi:

Women’s Premier Soccer League
 Seton Hall standout Ashley Clark will play for the Boston Breakers Reserves following graduation. The Boston Reserves compete in WPSL, which begins play in May.

The WPSL welcomes new club, Chattanooga FC Women, to the league in its Southeast Conference. The men’s side plays in the National Premier Soccer League. The supporters group is called Chattahooligans, which sounds fun.

W-League
Canadian National Team players Rhian Wilkinson and Josée Bélanger will play for the Laval Comets.

Eye of the TWeimer
ACL injuries have hit hard recently. Brittany Bock suffered an ACL tear in her first game for the Houston Dash, leaving Becky Edwards to man the middle and help lead a young Dash team. I was really looking forward to seeing that partnership develop. Bock has battled bock from several injuries of late. Washington Spirit forward Tiffany Weimer (Our Game Magazine‘s Editor in Chief) will also be sidelined for the remainder of the season after tearing her ACL in training. Weimer had yet to see the field for the Spirit in a league game. No doubt both will be back better than ever.

Weimer was characteristically Weimer on twitter about it:  

Get Bock soon and Eye of the TWeimer to you both.

Well Playeds

Sally Shipard Retires
Sally Shipard, midfielder for the Australian Women’s National team, has retired, citing injuries. Shipard most recently played for Canberra United of the Westfield W-League but also had a short stint in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in 2012.

In early February 2014, Shipard discussed her battle with an eating disorder in a frank interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. Shipard will turn her attention to her site, Chasing Leather, which focuses on girls and women in sport and body issues.

Have a read from the women herself here.

A Look Ahead

04/26/14

Damallsvenskan
Vittsjö vs. AIK

FA Women’s Cup
Liverpool vs. Everton

NWSL
Chicago Red Stars vs. Washington Spirit
Portland Thorns FC vs. FC Kansas City

World Cup Qualifying
Czech Republic vs. Estonia

04/27/14

UEFA Women’s Champions League
Final semifinal legs kick off as Tyresö host Birmingham City and Wolfsburg welcome Potsdam.

Just one goal. From anyone.

Could be the last Conny Pohlers Champions League match forever, as the forward is retiring at the end of the season. Pohlers, who played for the Washington Spirit last season, is the all-time leading scorer in UEFA women’s club competition with 48 goals. She’s won Champions League with Potsdam (the competition was then called the UEFA Women’s Cup), FFC Frankfurt and Wolfsburg. Throw in winning the 2003 Women’s World Cup and 2005 Women’s EURO, as well as bronze medals in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and, well, wow.

Jumping in the Way Back Wagon, Pohlers also played for the Atlanta Beat of WUSA. And Ali Krieger was her teammate at Frankfurt when they won Champions League and German league and cup titles, something Pohlers did with Wolfsburg last year as well.

Danke, Conny.

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FA Women’s Cup
Manchester City vs. Chelsea
Portsmouth vs. Notts County

Frauen-Bundesliga
FFC Frankfurt vs. USV Jena
Cloppenburg vs. Sindelfingen
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich
SGS Essen vs. Duisburg
Freiburg vs. Hoffenheim

Damallsvenskan
Kristianstad vs. Pitea
Göteborg FC vs. Linköping
Eskilstuna United vs. Jitex

NWSL
Boston Breakers vs. Sky Blue FC
Seattle Reign FC vs. Houston Dash

4/30/14

Damallsvenskan
Jitex vs. Tyresö

NWSL
Sky Blue FC vs. Seattle Reign FC
FC Kansas City vs. Chicago Red Stars

FA WSL Continental Cup
Liverpool vs. Everton
Sunderland vs. Durham Women
Notts County vs. Aston Villa

05/01/14

Damallsvenskan
AIK vs. Kristianstad
Piteå vs. Eskilstuna United
Umeå vs. Göteborg FC
Linkoping vs. Rosengård
KIF Örebro vs. Vittsjö

Frauen-Bundesliga
Hoffenheim vs. Wolfsburg
Turbine Potsdam vs. Bayer Leverkusen

FA WSL Continental Cup
Bristol Acadmey vs. Oxford United
Yeovil Town LFC vs. Birmingham City
London Bees vs. Millwall Lionesses
Arsenal vs. Watford
Reading vs. Chelsea
Doncaster Belles vs. Manchester City

All Your Soccer Belong to Us

While on an eight-day trip to Asia, US President Barack Obama stopped by Japan’s National Museum Of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo. There, he kicked about with Honda’s ASIMO robot.

Whatever. Where’s my jetpack? It’s 2014, for Pete’s sake.

Plug City

The posts from OGM you might have missed. You don’t have to read, but it’d be a lot cooler if you did.

New USWNT Head Coach Soon
An update on the search for a new head coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Bella Sember: FCBEscola International Tournament
Ten-year-old Bella Sember is sharing her story about playing in Barcelona, Spain, in the FCBEscola International Tournament. Day 2 and Day 3.

NWSL Week 2 Review
JJ Duke reviews Week 2 of NWSL.

NWSL Attendance Watch: Week2
Numbers and charts, charts and numbers. A look at NWSL’s weekly attendance numbers.

Series So Far: Spirit vs. Reign, 04/23/14
Quick visual overview of the major stats between the teams.

First Women’s Caribbean Cup Begins in May
Important qualifying tournament for the Caribbean region kicks off in May. Top three advance to 2014 CONCACAF world cup qualifying tournament.